Pandas World Tour – Taipei 1600貓熊世界之旅-臺北: Cuteness Strikes

Now that the yellow duck has left Taiwan’s shores, the country is in dire need of a new adorable animal. Pandas have swiftly filled that gap, with the baby panda Yuan Zai finally being available to the public in December and now 1,600 paper-mache pandas have made their home in front of Taipei City Hall as part of Pandas World Tour – Taipei 1600貓熊世界之旅-臺北. Created by French artist Paulo Grangeon, the pandas have finally made their way to Asia. Check out some of my pictures from this multi-stage exhibit.

The pandas in front of Taipei City Hall is merely step one of two. In March, 200 paper-mache Formosan Black Bears will also appear at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall.

The pandas are neatly corralled in an area right in front of the plaza. The road is barricaded just for this event, giving patrons plenty of space to move around. In addition to the mini-pandas, there are also several larger pandas and black bears to lure people into photo ops. In one area you can even hold some of the little pandas and take pictures with them.

I must say I’m a little skeptical that it is actually 1,600 pandas. I’ve never seen 1,600 baby pandas at one time though, so I’m probably not the best judge. It might be the case that some of the pandas are here, and some will be saved for the later exhibit, totaling 1,600. Here are some pictures from the event.

Taipei City Hall is right next to the neck-bending Taipei 101.

People crowd around the pandas on a clear day.

Probably the best area for a photo op if you want to combine pandas and Taipei 101.

You have to inch your way to the front in order to get a clear picture.

A slightly different angle.

Pandas as far as the eye can see.

A closer look at the pandas.

People queue for the gift shop.

A sampling of gifts you can buy.

You can also see large statues of Formosan Black Bears, the native bear of Taiwan.

You can’t have a panda exhibit without bamboo.

I expect the later exhibit to be bigger considering the venue, so I’m looking forward to it.

Location

2/28-3/09: Directly in front of Taipei City Hall (Taipei 101 MRT or Taipei City Hall MRT)